We Can’t Say No To Patients? I Thought We Were Professionals.

Yes, the customer is almost always right — except if they’re paying cash for healthcare. In this case, yes, the “customer” has the right to take their business elsewhere. But do they have the right to complain when I won’t prescribe a drug I know they don’t need?

No way. And just like I don’t WANT to pay taxes, my accountant provides me with options to address what I need to do and what I should not do.

Of course, I don’t have to listen to my accountant. I can forego paying my taxes.

However, I shouldn’t be surprised when the IRS calls me to demand payment, garnishes my wages, and ultimately closes my practice.

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Direct Care Is Keeping Patients, And Private Practice Physicians Themselves, Alive.

Are you new to cash-only primary care i.e. direct care? Then check out this great blog post from William Rusnak. He outlines the benefits of modern concierge medicine and specifically our model of direct care.

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Bloomberg Businessweek Investigates The Future Of Medicine — Cash-Only Clinics.

Bloomberg Businessweek wants to know what’s in store for our nation’s healthcare future. We are facing a staggering shortage of doctors, along with a growing demand for providers precipitated by Obamacare. In spite of thee challenges, there are doctors and entrepreneurs emerging, people searching for better outcomes. Our direct care operation, Atlas MD, was actually the first practice profiled in Bloomberg’s article. They shared one of our harrowing stories — helping a struggling, uninsured woman address her thyroid issues, and regain her vitality, for $147 instead of ~$1,500 a hospital would have potentially charged her.

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Kimmel Jumps On The Red Tape Bandwagon

Red Alert politics alerted us to this new Jimmy Kimmel sketch skewering Obamacare. We’re glad to know comedy has joined our crusade to get rid of tiresome bureaucracy, so doctors can focus on actual healthcare. Although, given the nature of comedy — the best humor is forward-thinking and offers social critique — healthcare has a long, long road ahead. At least certain public figures are pointing us in the right direction.

Wall Street Journal Shares Pros and Cons of Concierge Medicine

Jen Wieczner of the Wall Street Journal stitched together a piece about the benefits and the doubts of concierge medicine. It did successfully clarify the outdated definition of concierge medicine, the personal medicine for jet setters. She also properly incorporated the term “direct primary care” as affordable, non-insurance based care, explaining that on one hand there still are “lavish, celebrity-type treatment” centers, but also a newly emerging option like our Atlas MD-model. She writes that “pared-down clinics charge roughly $50 to $100 a month for basic primary-care medicine, more accessible doctors, and yes, money savings for those looking to reduce their health spending.”

Not bad. That sounds like what we’re up to here at Atlas MD.

She also included this relevant stat. According to Concierge Medicine Today, “Of the estimated 5,500 concierge practices nationwide, about two-thirds charge less than $135 a month on average, up from 49% three years ago.” It’s believed our lower cost practices are driving growth in concierge medicine. Offices are being added at a rate of about 25% a year, says the American Academy of Private Physicians.

Also not bad. This is becoming the free market reaction we were hoping for.

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LISTEN: Atlas MD Podcast, Ep. 6

LISTEN: Atlas MD Podcast, Ep. 6

Tune in to the newest taping of the Atlas MD podcast. You can stream episode 6 for free on iTunes.

Drs. Josh and Doug are back to talk direct care and concierge medicine. This week the focus is on the nerve-wracking part of launching your own insurance-free practice — selling patients on your service. We don’t want doctors to feel like used car salesmen, but at the same time, the doctor who can outline why their model saves time, money and provides a superior service will attract more patients. We go over our model and how we break down our price points by age. Also, a myth doctors will need to dispel is that concierge medicine and direct care are only for the 1%. That’s not true. Our model is built under the idea that the best care offered at the best price can, and will, help the most people.

If People Were EMRs, We’d Be Doing A Whole Lot Better

If People Were EMRs, We’d Be Doing A Whole Lot Better

The Journal of General Internal Medicine has confirmed what we’ve been saying all along: Doctors spend more time with computers than they do with patients. Their new study lays out the cold hard fact that face time is down, and hours spent working on computers handily beat out patients. Here are the highlights from the research. Try not to twist your neck while you’re shaking your head.

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